FLOWERY BRANCH -- The Falcons’ offensive line, which started strong in the run game Sunday against the Eagles before stalling on two red-zone trips, will be on the hot seat at 4:05 p.m. Sunday on the road against the Bucs.
After the strong beginning, the Falcons were forced to punt six consecutive times and turned the ball over on downs two more times. The offense didn’t move past the Eagles’ 49-yard line after its first two drives.
The Falcons are expected to start rookie Drew Dalman at left guard for fellow rookie Jalen Mayfield, who had a poor day in his NFL debut. He had a grade of 28 points (F) by Pro Football Focus.
In addition to Dalman, the Falcons also have Colby Gossett, and they added veteran offensive guards Danny Isidora and Bryan Witzmann to the practice squad Wednesday and could flex one or both to the active game-day roster.
Falcons coach Arthur Smith said that “all options are on the table” at left guard after a poor debut by Mayfield, who the team believes is going to be fine. They also noted that he is a tackle trying to make the conversion to guard.
“We brought some guys here on the practice squad,” Smith said. “We’ll continue to look for options. We’ll continue to (work on) improvement. Some of these guys are rookies.”
Mayfield started against the Eagles after veteran Josh Andrews suffered a broken hand and was placed on injured reserve.
“Some of these guys are rookies,” Smith said. “We have to fix issues if it doesn’t change. There is no secret there. Some of the rookies, going through their first NFL start, going against a pretty good front and some pretty good players, let’s see if you can go in there and correct it, but we also have options, too, if that’s not working.”
Isidora, 27, who’s 6-foot-3 and 306 pounds, has played 490 NFL snaps, including two snaps last season with Kansas City.
Witzmann, 31, who’s 6-foot-7 and 320 pounds, has played in 40 NFL games and has played 1,421 NFL snaps, including 877 at left guard for the Chiefs in 2017. He has not played an offensive snap since the 2019 season. He played three snaps on special teams for the Chiefs in 2020.
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